In Part 1 [Exclusive:  DG Yola Explains Why He Won’t Let Up After Attempted Murder & Jail Time] of our exlcusive interview with the Atlanta rapper, DG Yola spoke on the moments when his life changed from good to bad.  From once being one of the hottest new rappers out of the ATL to his unfortunate shooting incident then jail time, Yola’s life has truly been a rollercoaster.  Nevertheless, he’s prevailing.  Soon to be released from the halfway house, Yola has big plans for his future in music.  But, first he has some shit to get off his chest.

 

In this second part of our sit down, Yola explains where “broke da knob” originated. He clears up any speculation about his former affiliation with Grand Hustle and if he prefers to be signed to a major label or stay independent. Lastly, Yola shares some words for all of his loyal fans and haters.

 

Check out Part 2 below…

 

 

So you just had a recent mixtape, ‘Mr. Broke da Knob’…what is “broke da knob”?

DG Yola: (Laughs) You know when I was in prison right this how I came about that right there. When I was in prison you know a nigga tuned in to what was going out in the streets or whatever and everybody turn up, turn up, turn up, turn up, turn up’ so boom

 

And that ish came out of nowhere

DG Yola: It came out of nowhere right! So I analyzed that and you know y’all couldn’t hear me ‘cause I’m confined. But I got my campaign going down in chain gang. So I come up with the “Mr. Broke da Knob” situation cause everybody turning up and to speak on that situation… why these niggas talking bout they breaking knobs now? What happened to turning up? What happened to going hard? You know that Kanye…”I go hard, go ham”…whatever they was doing. But now they wanna “break some knobs”. They be biting the swank. You feel what I’m saying, these niggas be biting my swag and stealing my bars and all that shit. Man, you know what I’m saying. But I commend y’all niggas though. ‘Cause one thing about it, I got so much of this shit. It’s so much of this swank it don’t even matter. I’m talking about for real you can bite that shit, whatever…keep it! I’ma come out with something else on your ass. Yeah all these niggas wanna break da knob now. Yeah.

 

So as far as that particular mixtape [Mr Broke Da Knob] with it being your most recent one, what was your thought process behind it? What story did you want to tell?

DG Yola: I really just wanted these folks to know that Yo ain’t went nowhere. Yo went and did that time, bossed all the way up, came all the way back even harder than how he left. That Yo don’t really care to much about nothing cause my patna Alfred and my patna Jesse and my patna Logan gone. I ain’t got no regard for y’all niggas or whatever. I want these folks to know that yeah you can do your thang but I’ma do my thang. ‘Cause I ain’t got no deal. Y’all niggas got these majors behind you and you hiding behind this cash and you hiding behind all this shit here but I’m doing this shit out my pocket, in the streets with it and I want these folks to respect this shit and they gon respect it regardless of the situation. So that’s what Mr. Broke da Knob doing. That’s why the first song on there say ‘fuck niggas I don’t fuck wit’em…live real die real’. So at the end of the day, that’s what it is and they respect it and that what it is. Yo ain’t went nowhere. Yo way harder than he used to be. I ain’t the same nigga I used to be. So that’s what this CD was about. We dropped that in July (July 25th) and I got in trouble for that. I had did some shit on YouTube. I did a whole bunch of shit that I wasn’t supposed to do and word got back to the warden and he sat me down for like 40 something days. I could’ve actually came back out if I would’ve been listening to what he was saying but I wasn’t paying attention cause I thought I was going to get shipped or something. But he sat me down and now I’m back out. I’m bout to drop ‘Mr. Shine Wit No Lights On’.

 

So that’s your next mixtape [Mr Shine Wit No Lights On]?

DG Yola: Yeah…that’s with DJ Holiday .

 

As far as you catching that next big hit, because you will, so we’re just going to put that in the atmosphere…

DG Yola: You know I got a whole lot of hits. It’s just that I don’t think the world, I don’t think my fans and my associates and my peers give my music time to grow on them. ‘Cause I think they be stuck at that one hit hang…the “Ain’t Gon Let Up”. You know what I’m saying cause if you go back to “7 grams”, “14 grams”, “Never Gon Stop”, “Still Standing”, “Been in the Streets”…it’s so many songs that I’ve put out that got potential to be hits. But they just won’t let’em be hits. They just stuck on “Ain’t Gon Let Up” and I feel like really that song been riding since 05’ right. If that’s what y’all want…I’ma give y’all that. I swear to God…I’ma just keep putting music out and we can keep riding to “Ain’t Gon Let Up”. It don’t matter…however y’all wanna do it. You feel what I’m saying, but I got so many other songs. You just got to give’em time to grow…give’em time to grow on you. But folks so caught up on that to where…that’s what it is..we ain’t gon let up. That what it is!

 

 

At one point you were affiliated with Grand Hustle, were you signed to Grand Hustle?

DG Yola: Nah, I wasn’t never signed to Grand Hustle. I was signed to Atlantic Records. I signed my record label Power Hitters Entertainment to Atlantic Records and from my understanding they didn’t know how to market me. So they put me with T.I. so he could market me ‘cause he was like the closest thing they had to the streets, Grand Hustle or whatever. And really I wasn’t feeling that ‘cause I didn’t want to go up under T.I., no disrespect to T.I. I just saw Tip the other day…no disrespect to Tip. But I didn’t want to go up under homes ‘cause I was looking at his track record with other artists. And I did this at a young age. I saw what happened with all his other artists where they didn’t never really fully do what they needed to do…nobody but Dro. And I just didn’t wanna get caught up in that. But I respect Grand Hustle. I respect the whole Grand Hustle movement, but I just didn’t want get caught with that. I didn’t want to be locked in with something to where I can’t branch off and do my thang. He the King, I’m the Great you know what I’m saying so I bucked the whole situation.

 

So, do you have any plans with any major labels or are you going to try to stay independent?

DG Yola: Man really man, I’m open for opportunities. I open for opportunities. Whoever feels like they wanna work with me, I’m willing to work. I ain’t the same person I used to be…not the lil hard head snot nose running around. I’m more business minded right now…on my grown man shit. So I’m willing to work with whoever wanna work with me. But from what I see it’s like they scared of me or something. It’s like they don’t wanna touch me. They got so much bad shit to say about me.

 

You’re a liability, they don’t know if you’re going to stay out of trouble.

DG Yola: I guess my bad outweighing my good. But I’m not going to do that no more. I’m not going to get in trouble no more. So it’s just a chance. Life’s about risk. You got to take chances you know what I’m saying and I’m the best thang smoking round’ here straight up. I’m the best thang smoking…the solidest thing you finna get to really being in the streets. So if you ain’t fucking with me, you really ain’t fucking with nothing. You watered down to death. Ya’ll folks really watered down man. You ain’t fucking with nothing. I’m the realest thing going. I can go in any hood right now. Any hood, it’s all respect from the Westside of Atlanta, Martin Luther King, all to Panola Rd. in Decatur, all the way to Buckhead and Chamblee, Dunwoody…all up through there them folks know Yo and Yo get plenty respect. Cause I’m out here and they see it. The streets see it! I live by this shit…I’ma die by it. It’s real…100!

 

So as far as last words…anything you want to say to your fans, to people that’s been down and/or to the haters?

DG Yola: Yeah. I wanna say rest in peace to Alfred Person, Jesse James, Big Logan, Big Meat, Kenny, Cheese, Mike Mike, Alvin, Head, Keon…all my fallen Allen Temple soldiers. I got so many to name. I could just go on and on. To all my fans, I wanna tell y’all I appreciate y’all for staying down with me at the hardest of moments and for staying down with me at the best of moments. I love y’all the same way y’all love me. As far as my hood, Allen Temple, Reed Circle til the death of me, y’all already know I got this here. Westside bound, Martin Luther King you understand, Eastland Dr, Middleton Rd., all that…one hundred Allen Temple. And all my haters…y’all can lick the bottom of these Gucci’s. Y’all can suck my toes. Y’all can do everything y’all wanna do…just hate me. ‘Cause without y’all I wouldn’t be a motherfucking thang. ‘Cause if y’all wasn’t hating that mean I wouldn’t be doing shit. And the crazy part about the haters right…I ain’t getting too much hate ‘cause they know I’m dead serious. They know I’m dead serious. So I ain’t getting too much hate. But for those of you who do hate me…Fuck you straight up! And at the end of the day I wanna say I appreciate y’all for coming through sharing this time with me and giving me the opportunity to do this. I appreciate y’all so much. Thank You! It’s Power Hitters…Lady B what’s happening…Midnight Black ‘preciate you for giving me the opportunity. Straight Up!

 

 

To stay updated on DG Yola and his music, go to www.DGYolaonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @DGYola, Instagram @dagreatyola and Facebook @BrokedaKnob and his FB fan page is DGYola.

 

 

Special thanks to DG Yola, Lady B,  & Power Hittas Entertainment!